The
day somberly passed into the infinity: The cool, dry air slowly bruised the
precepts of time. A single voice whispered into the night. "Are they gone
yet?"

"All
but one."

"Okay.
Let me out."

**T. G. Taft**

The
burning wood in the fireplace crumbled into one thousand, three hundred and
fifty three infinitesimal splinters. The flames arched higher: They seemed to
touch the windy flume above. Taft looked at his rather plump wife sitting on
the couch next to him. He felt the warmth of his ranch house come into his
body; he felt a strange feeling of calm enter his head as he realized that the
menace of the Maelstrom had finally been alleviated. He calmly altered his
glance as he stared towards a now barren couch: And he immediately realized
that his wife had gotten up for a little bedtime snack in the kitchen. He
sighed to himself. He was now, finally, one of only two rulers in all of
Ralle: And he held half of the existing Keys. He could finally settle back and
live a simple life on his little ranch. Or, as an alternate plan, he could
attack, destroy, and completely exterminate Adena and became supreme ruler
over all of Ralle. Hmm. Hmm.

Suddenly
he heard a very intense, low-pitched scream, originating from the huge ranch
kitchen, as it whistled past his ears. He looked toward the door, and stared
in dismay as he saw a piece of flab come flying through the keyhole.

He
rushed up and hopped into the kitchen: "What happened, dear?"

He
could hardly believe his eyes as he entered that ghastly kitchen, which had
blood stains everywhere, and he gasped in horror as he saw the remains of a
mangled body lying in the middle of the room. He approached the body, but,
before reaching it, looked up and saw the creator of this blood-curdling
event. "And now for you," it said with a strange, evil twang in its
voice.

Taft
quickly grabbed the Diadem which hung at his waist. He waited for the
shimmering effect to take place: He quietly paused for the ghostlike form to
take him into safety. But it did not happen. With one fatal swoop, the
Maelstrom grabbed Taft and pinned him to the wall. The Diadem at Taft's waist
quickly transformed into the body of James Kirkson.

James
quietly handed the Diadem, which he held next to his side, into the awaiting
hands of the Maelstrom. Taft flinched as he saw the four Keys hang from the
Maelstrom's crude belt. "How... You were killed by the Witch..."
Taft said, glancing at James.

The
Maelstrom spoke up. "The witch killed his twin, a man named GAmes
(Genetically Altered) Kirkson."

Taft
turned his sight to the man with the auburn hair. "But I saw you
desintegrate..."

"What
you saw, sir, is the usage of something that I had hoped I would never have to
employ." He paused for a second. "I see you do know James, do you
not?" He pointed at James Kirkson, and Taft gave a small nod.

"He
was, at one time, one of my most faithful helpers." Said Taft
waringly.

"But
he came to work for me."

"You
mean his body did. He, that is, his soul, is inside the Staff."

"Whatever."
The Maelstrom twisted Tart around and pinned his hands behind him. "Taft,
you knew that James was an inventive type of person. He always wanted to work
on some new gismo of his. Did you not have any idea of what he was working on
before he left you?"

"Kirkson
was always into heavy stuff that I had no ralle'an idea as to what he was
talking about. He called some of his inventions 'the wave of the future'. The
guy should not have become a farmhand."

The
Maelstrom grunted beneath his breath. "That 'wave of the future' as you
happened to have called it, refers to his greatest invention: A machine called
the Shrinking Ray. And when he perfected it, the fool tested it on himself. He
shrunk down to a size smaller than an atom, and, having done so, figured out
how to rearrange such tiny particles. He learned how to transform himself, and
anything he touches, into any object that he might desire. And that, Taft, is
where I came in. You see, James happens to have been my castle's moat for
quite some time. When I saw that the outworlders apparently were causing me
more trouble than they were worth, I simply pretended..."

Taft
noticed that the Maelstrom had begun to take a lot of interest in bragging
about himself, and was not paying attention at all to keeping him pinned.
Waiting for the right chance, Taft suddenly noticed that the Maelstrom's guard
was down, and he made a fast break for the kitchen door. It would have been a
perfect escape, too, had he not slipped on a tiny sliver of greasy flab.

The
Maelstrom rushed toward the fallen Taft, and quietly took out the Sabre. It
turned into an axe as he brought it up over his shoulders. Kirkson turned his
hand into a trumpet and played a Ralle Funeral March known as Spat.

**T. G. Taft**

"Stop!"

In,
through a door that led to the entry hall, came Fred, the Caretaker of
Remembrance. "You will not undo what the Restorer accomplished: I will
see to that. How you survived without my knowledge is beyond me,
but..."

Fred
whipped around as he heard someone come through the doorway that he had just
passed. "It was because of me."

A
young man, about Fred's age, stood in the threshold, looking back at him. He
was the same height as Fred, but just a tad better looking. The man noticed
the look of perplexity on Fred's face. "Follow me and all will be
explained."

The
people in the room were completely stunned: The Maelstrom, Kirkson, and Taft
were still wondering who this first person was, but the second one completely
threw them off guard. Fred also stood shocked. What had this person meant,
'because of me?' Could this be one more powerful than he?

The
strange man walked across the kitchen and proceeded out the back door. Taft
quickly followed behind, knowing that this may be his only chance for escape.
The Maelstrom followed only out of curiosity: He knew that he had four Keys
and that no one could defeat him. Fred was obliged to come along, for he
wondered how this person could exist since he had never detected him before.
James just sort of tagged along.

The
strange man led them to a clear opening in a bunch of overgrowth on the west
side of Taft's ranch. He tapped the ground thrice: And suddenly the area
surrounding the group began to sink into the ground. The group was amazed as
they saw an entire city rise out of nowhere: And apparently underground! The
man looked at his surprised followers. With a wave of his hand, he introduced
the habitat. "This is the City of Reminiscence, my friends."

The
Maelstrom looked up from his intense stare. "And who are you?"

"Why,
I am Clifford, the Caretaker Of Reminiscence." He said, with an evil
'what else?' shrug.

**T. G. Taft**

Clifford
led them to a strange fountain on the East side of the City. With a brush of
his hand, the water cleared and a strange black line appeared in front of
them. Fred stared at it. "What is that?" He said aloud.

The
Maelstrom looked perplexed. "What do you mean, 'what is that?' That is an
ordinary fortenmik. It is used to measure one's height. How come you didn't
know that?"

Clifford
spoke up. "Where he comes from, Maelstrom, there aren't any fortenmiks.
You see, Maelstrom..." with that he entered the fortenmik and pulled the
Maelstrom with him.

The
rest of the group crowded around, wondering what had happened. But Fred pushed
the group aside and listened intently into the fortenmik. His dismay widened
as he heard a few familiar words:

"And
remember. They don't have fortenmiks. So don't lose that one..." The
hologram of the fountain reappeared. A drenched Fred looked down as he
realized that the Maelstrom, along with four more Keys, had entered his own,
doomed, universe.